Sarah Williams (1837/8-1868) was born in London to Welsh parents. [1] Though Williams lived and received her education in London, attending Queen's College, Harley Street where she came in contact with E. H. Plumptre (a supporter of women's education and, more specifically, Williams' poetry), she attributed her poetic abilities to her Welsh roots. Her introduction to the prominent publisher Alexander Strahan in the 1860s secured her a place in several of his popular literary periodicals, including Good Words, Sunday Magazine, and The Argosy. All of Williams' periodical poetry appeared under the pseudonym 'Sadie.' Shortly after the death of her father in January 1868, Williams underwent a surgical procedure intended to treat her cancer. The surgery was not successful, and Williams died that April. Strahan posthumously published Williams' only poetry volume, Twilight Hours: A Legacy of Verse, later that year.
Though there is little information available on Williams, the critical work that exists reads her poetry autobiographically. For instance, in her work on Welsh women poets, Catherine Brennan suggests that Williams' battle with cancer offers an explanation for the poet's preoccupation with the tribulations of life, the ever-present spectre of death and the promise of the afterlife. [2] However, as a contributor to some of the most popular literary periodicals of the 1860s, Williams' choice of pseudonym is of particular interest.
Victorian-era poets frequently published under pseudonyms in the periodical press, making it difficult to attribute authorship (VPN's Database of Victorian Periodical Poetry offers ample evidence of this practice). However, Williams fused her public and private identities when she choose the self-given childhood appellation 'Sadie' as her pseudonym. She considered this name as central to her identity in a way that her given and inherited names were not. [3] While the politics behind this decision are interesting for how they complicate the way one reads both Williams' poetry and her poetic persona, the link Williams forged between her poetic and personal identities ultimately encouraged an autobiographical reading of her poems and a reconstruction of her poetic identity through biography. As with many female poets from the period, posthumous biographies of Williams authoritatively reconstructed her poetic identity, imposing their image of the ideal female poet(ess) onto her work. [4] E. H. Plumptre's introduction to Williams' Twilight Hours, for example, firmly locates Williams within the poetess tradition identified with such figures as Mme. de Staël's Corinne. He writes that her poetry "ha[s] neither the excellences nor the defects of imitative verse. What [strikes Plumptre is] its naturalness, its spontaneity, its being the utterance of one who sang . . . because the song was in her." [5] This critical construction of Williams as one who spontaneously produced song fits the traditional definition of the poetess serves to minimize Williams' astute awareness of her position as a female poet and the importance of her now forgotten contributions to the era's periodical culture. Williams' poetry is a significant part of sixties periodical culture. She produced poetry that participates in the sensational discourse of the era, and she composed two serial poems (a surprising rarity in the literary periodicals of the period). Much like her poetess foremothers (i.e. Felicia Hemans and Letitia Landon), Williams wrote for public consumption. She wanted to be read. [6] -- Caley Ehnes, UVic Engl 386/2012W Notes: [1] The date of Williams' birth is unclear. TheOxford Dictionary of Biography lists the year of her birth as 1837/38 while her biographer Alex H. Japp claims she was born in 1841. For further information see, Elisabeth Jay, "Williams, Sarah (1837/8–1868)," in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004), accessed 15 July 2011 and Alex H. Japp, "Sarah Williams." In The Poets and the Poetry of the Nineteenth-Century: Christina G. Rossetti to Katherine Tynan, ed. Alfred Miles (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1907). [2] Catherine Brennan, Angers, Fantasies and Ghostly Fears: Nineteenth-Century Women from Wales and English Language Poetry (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2003), 114. Indeed, several of the periodical poems Williams published in The Argosy, especially her cycle of lyrics titled "A Poet's Moods" (September-October 1867), address such themes. [3] According to Brennan, "[for Williams, t]he given name of Sarah is . . . uncomfortable and imposed; the inherited name, Miss Williams, is seen as applied to her by default in the absence of another candidate." Brennan, Angers, Fantasies and Ghostly Fears, 130. Williams' understanding of her poetic persona as inseparable from her personal identity sets her apart from other female poets writing under pseudonyms. For a discussion of women poets and the public, literary market, see Angela Leighton, Victorian Women Poets: Writing Against the Heart (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1992). [4] Tricia Lootens, Lost Saints: Silence, Gender, and Victorian Literary Canonization (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996). [5] E. H. Plumptre, "Memoir." Twilight Hours: A Legacy of Verse (London: Strahan & Co., 1868), vii. Accessed 11 January 2012. Google Books. [7] Sadly, few people, including Williams, had any expectations for her poetry. Williams herself was pessimistic about achieving artistic greatness, a conclusion supported by posthumous views of her verse that identified her as a weaker talent. Brennan, Angers, Fantasies and Ghostly Fears, 112.
Though there is little information available on Williams, the critical work that exists reads her poetry autobiographically. For instance, in her work on Welsh women poets, Catherine Brennan suggests that Williams' battle with cancer offers an explanation for the poet's preoccupation with the tribulations of life, the ever-present spectre of death and the promise of the afterlife. [2] However, as a contributor to some of the most popular literary periodicals of the 1860s, Williams' choice of pseudonym is of particular interest.
Victorian-era poets frequently published under pseudonyms in the periodical press, making it difficult to attribute authorship (VPN's Database of Victorian Periodical Poetry offers ample evidence of this practice). However, Williams fused her public and private identities when she choose the self-given childhood appellation 'Sadie' as her pseudonym. She considered this name as central to her identity in a way that her given and inherited names were not. [3] While the politics behind this decision are interesting for how they complicate the way one reads both Williams' poetry and her poetic persona, the link Williams forged between her poetic and personal identities ultimately encouraged an autobiographical reading of her poems and a reconstruction of her poetic identity through biography.
As with many female poets from the period, posthumous biographies of Williams authoritatively reconstructed her poetic identity, imposing their image of the ideal female poet(ess) onto her work. [4] E. H. Plumptre's introduction to Williams' Twilight Hours, for example, firmly locates Williams within the poetess tradition identified with such figures as Mme. de Staël's Corinne. He writes that her poetry "ha[s] neither the excellences nor the defects of imitative verse. What [strikes Plumptre is] its naturalness, its spontaneity, its being the utterance of one who sang . . . because the song was in her." [5] This critical construction of Williams as one who spontaneously produced song fits the traditional definition of the poetess serves to minimize Williams' astute awareness of her position as a female poet and the importance of her now forgotten contributions to the era's periodical culture.
Williams' poetry is a significant part of sixties periodical culture. She produced poetry that participates in the sensational discourse of the era, and she composed two serial poems (a surprising rarity in the literary periodicals of the period). Much like her poetess foremothers (i.e. Felicia Hemans and Letitia Landon), Williams wrote for public consumption. She wanted to be read. [6]
-- Caley Ehnes, UVic Engl 386/2012W
Notes:
[1] The date of Williams' birth is unclear. The Oxford Dictionary of Biography lists the year of her birth as 1837/38 while her biographer Alex H. Japp claims she was born in 1841. For further information see, Elisabeth Jay, "Williams, Sarah (1837/8–1868)," in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004), accessed 15 July 2011 and Alex H. Japp, "Sarah Williams." In The Poets and the Poetry of the Nineteenth-Century: Christina G. Rossetti to Katherine Tynan, ed. Alfred Miles (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1907).
[2] Catherine Brennan, Angers, Fantasies and Ghostly Fears: Nineteenth-Century Women from Wales and English Language Poetry (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2003), 114. Indeed, several of the periodical poems Williams published in The Argosy, especially her cycle of lyrics titled "A Poet's Moods" (September-October 1867), address such themes.
[3] According to Brennan, "[for Williams, t]he given name of Sarah is . . . uncomfortable and imposed; the inherited name, Miss Williams, is seen as applied to her by default in the absence of another candidate." Brennan, Angers, Fantasies and Ghostly Fears, 130. Williams' understanding of her poetic persona as inseparable from her personal identity sets her apart from other female poets writing under pseudonyms. For a discussion of women poets and the public, literary market, see Angela Leighton, Victorian Women Poets: Writing Against the Heart (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1992).
[4] Tricia Lootens, Lost Saints: Silence, Gender, and Victorian Literary Canonization (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1996).
[5] E. H. Plumptre, "Memoir." Twilight Hours: A Legacy of Verse (London: Strahan & Co., 1868), vii. Accessed 11 January 2012. Google Books.
[7] Sadly, few people, including Williams, had any expectations for her poetry. Williams herself was pessimistic about achieving artistic greatness, a conclusion supported by posthumous views of her verse that identified her as a weaker talent. Brennan, Angers, Fantasies and Ghostly Fears, 112.